History & Awards

When we opened the Tearoom in December 2007, we set out to make it the best of its kind; we’ve hopefully gone a long way to achieving this. Opened in December 2007 by Marco Pierre White, the tearoom has gone from strength to strength growing in popularity and attracting visitors from all over the UK and the world.

To quote Michel Roux OBE:

Having tried some of these desserts, specifically the Chocolate & Cherry, Rhubarb, and Apple & Vanilla, I can say that they [the patisserie] are some of the best I have ever tasted in the UK; a pleasure for the eyes and a wonderful display of skill at it’s best.

Already, we’ve been awarded membership of the prestigious Tea Guild for the quality of our tea choice and knowledge, sitting us alongside other prestigious and elite venues such as the Ritz, The Four Seasons, Claridges and The Dorchester, and in 2009 the tearoom was earmarked as a Tearoom of Excellence by the Tea Guild.

The feather in the cap, so to speak, came in April 2010 when the Tearoom was awarded Top Tea Place 2010 by the Tea Guild, equivalent to the Michelin Star of the tea world; a fantastic achievement and a huge honour to the staff and management at the Black Swan Tearoom. Since then, we’ve also gone on to win the ‘Tearoom of Excellence’ award in 2009, and for three consecutive years in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

In addition to recognition from the Tea Guild, our Cygnet Tea range has also won a handful of it’s own awards. Three of our speciality blended teas have wowed judges in Great Taste 2013 and have been awarded a star rating in the world’s largest and most rigorous food awards scheme, involving over 400 judges and thousands of hours of blind tasting. The award-winning teas are the Earl Grey Blue Flower, the Green Tea, Honey, Cherry Blossom and Ginseng and the Green Tea, Apple, Mint and Chilli. These teas are available to buy from The Black Swan Tearoom or online at www.blackswantea.co.uk